Here we are, in our three
by joieeu
Summary: Finally managed to write about Zosan as kids.


_That summer was probably the hottest summer for a long time._

There was small, blond boy lying in soft grass with his blue eyes analyzing the sky and his arms crossed behind his head. He was wearing a matching t-shirt and shorts, both light blue with some white. He had no socks or shoes, because he liked it better that way. It was nice to feel the grass and the heat, the small wind, if there was some, passing his feet and his toes. The boy snorted and noticed a cloud, which looked a bit like a bunny. He liked bunnies, if they were small and didn't bite his hands. The boy sniffed. He had never liked anyone or anything touching his hands. It was nice to build things with them and bake, but only when he could do it on his own. None could touch his hands. Never.

The boy was named Sanji and he was seven. He was very proud of himself, because he'd been able to reach such a great number of years. He felt so much stronger and so much older. He liked to be older. It always gave him some freedom and though he knew he needed to be responsible with it, he still enjoyed it and sometimes went a little over the line. Just a little, a tiny step. Someday he would be able to make a cake on his own. Yes, that was one of those things he was waiting as he grew older and bigger. He wanted to be tall and smart and strong. He wanted to be so strong he could run thousands of miles and he wanted to be so smart he could do a two hundred piece puzzle with horses on them. It was always hard to do those puzzles, because the animals were standing in a field and that field was always all green or yellow. All the pieces looked the same.

Sanji got up from the ground as the bunny cloud broke into two birds. He looked around and saw his home just some way to east. He didn't want to be so close his home, so he took the opposite direction with a smile on his face. He was really brave, actually. He wanted to find new places where to play, so some day he could bring a friend over and they could go to his special place, maybe play that they were thieves or pirates or heroes. He couldn't possibly ask a friend to come over before he'd found a proper place to play.

Sanji wasn't actually so sure what friend meant. They'd been talking about it at the school, but he hadn't quite caught it. The girls had been saying that you can say someone is your friend when you have fun with him and when you can trust him. But he didn't even know what trusting to someone meant. He wasn't good at talking or telling his thoughts to anyone, so usually he was just sitting by himself and walking around. There were surely people calling him weird and funny, but he didn't care. He liked to be alone. Thinking and talking. Alone.

Sanji picked a yellowish flower from the ground and put it behind his ear. His mother was always saying flowers suited him, so why not to wear them then? He looked carefully behind him and this time he couldn't see his home that easily anymore. The boy smirked to himself, looked ahead and then back again, and suddenly he sprinted forwards as fast he could, laughing out loud. He ran so fast and so far he knew he's mother would be angry, but she didn't need to know. She never knew.

Sanji put his hands innocently into his pockets and started to make his way up a little hill, which had a tall and strong tree on the top of it. He was good at climbing trees and this one was probably his favorite. It was easy to climb and easy to sit on, and he could see the whole world when he was up enough. He'd been thinking a name for the tree and the hill, but he couldn't come up with anything but _Sanji's place_ or something like that. And he knew it would be really stupid to name a hill like that. He couldn't say something was his own just like that, he knew it, but he liked to think that tree was his. He'd seen how it changed its color when the fall came, he'd seen how it slept in the winter and he'd seen how it came back to life in the spring. The tree, on the other hand, had seen how he got older and bigger. So, it was nice to think they were some kind of… Pals.

Suddenly Sanji heard a weird voice and he noticed he'd already walked almost on the top of the hill. He looked around carefully and waited for an animal to come up from some bush, but there was absolutely none except him. How funny was that. He was sure he'd heard something - and immediately he'd thought about that he heard it again. It was the same voice he made when he was climbing to his tree. But he wasn't climbing yet and the voice didn't come from him, so where did it? Then Sanji breathed loudly, ran the last steps so he was under the tree and looked up.

He'd known it!

There was a boy climbing up to the tree, but he looked like having trouble already, though he was just couple branches up. Sanji tilted his head to right and couldn't help that he felt a little annoyed. He didn't think this place was the special place he was looking for, so he could go and find another tree or something, but it still made him a little angry that there was a strange boy climbing up to his tree. This boy was wearing light brown shorts and a green t-shirt, which matched excellently with his green hair. He was probably a little bigger than Sanji was, but not much older if older at all. Sanji was sure he was smarter and quicker than this boy, who couldn't even climb a tree!

And then this boy turned to see how high up he was and he scared them both; Sanji yelped, stumbled and fell to his butt, and the boy fell down from the tree.

"I'm sorry!" Sanji apologized immediately and tried to recover from the shock. "I didn't mean to!"

"Uh - I just - Is this your tree? I didn't know", the green-haired boy said and Sanji noticed this boy was talking louder than he was.

"It's not mine, but I come here often. I like to climb up. Are you good at climbing?" Sanji said back louder this time and he felt proud of himself as the boy got up to sitting position.

"Not very. But I'm going to be! I want to strong", the boy said and smiled.

"And smart!" Sanji added.

"And tall!"

Then they noticed they'd said the same thing at the same time and they started to laugh. Sanji was quite sure this boy was nice and he could trust him - yes, trust. That was probably what the trust was. He could trust this boy wasn't going to take away his tree. He was sure he could share the tree with this boy.

"I can show you how to climb up!"

The green-haired boy nodded happily. They both got up and stood near the tree, as Sanji explained few tips and then climbed up to the first branch. He looked at the unsure boy on the ground and for some reason he stretched out his hand - his precious hand, which he didn't want anyone to touch. But this boy touched it and grabbed it, and his hand was warm and nice, and he was easy to help up so they were both sitting on the first branch, smiling. Then they grabbed the next one and the next one, and they climbed even higher than Sanji had never climbed. Up there they could see everything; fields, other trees, couple of houses and the whole sky. It made them happy.

"Where do you live?"

And so they changed the information of places they lived in. Then they told their names and laughed a little, because Sanji and Zoro sounded funny. They talked about their parents, their schools and classes, their favorite colors and animals, what they wanted to be when they grew up and what things they liked. And as the evening started to fall they climbed down and promised to be at the same place tomorrow. And the day after that day. And finally Sanji could say he knew what friend meant, because as the summer passed, the fall, the winter and the spring, and the next summer came, they were still having meetings at their place. They were still holding hands as they climbed up. They were still sitting closely.

And after years they kissed at the first time and exactly nothing needed to be changed because of that. It was as normal as breathing.


End file.
